53 Banned in 2013

After several years of embezzling from the $60 million WesTex Federal Credit Union in Lubbock, Texas, Armelinda “Irma” Castillo was nabbed by the long arm of the law.

The former assistant accountant, who pleaded guilty in December 2012 to embezzling an estimated $500,000 from 2009 to 2012, was sentenced in September 2013 to 37 months in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution of $690,000, according to court documents.

Castillo, who was 27 when sentenced, will also undergo five years of supervision after serving time in jail.

In addition, she is prohibited by the NCUA from ever participating in any affairs at federally insured financial institutions. If she violates that condition, she’d wind up back behind bars, the agency said.

Castillo is among 53 former credit union employees banned by the NCUA in 2013.

As the year drew to an end, the agency added a new search feature at www.ncua.gov for administrative actions. Users can now search prohibition and administrative orders by name, institution, city, state and year. There are also links to the enforcement actions of other federal regulators.

The change was implemented to enable users to find NCUA administrative actions more quickly and easily, the agency said.

Some of those banned in 2013 had contributed to the downfall of credit unions in previous years.

For example, the NCUA banned Nkajlo Vangh, a former director, and True Yang Vangh, a former employee, for their role in the failure of the $2.5 million American Federal Credit Union in St. Paul, Minn., which was liquidated in May 2011. Both consented to the prohibition order to avoid the time and cost of administrative litigation.

Yolanda O’Keefe, a former employee of the $21 million Connecticut Community Credit Union in Pawcatuck, Conn., was also banned.

After being charged with larceny, she was ordered to attend and complete a Gamblers Anonymous program, stay away from the credit union’s premises and complete 50 hours of community service, the NCUA said.

O’Keefe, who is also prohibited from all casinos, entered into a pretrial rehabilitation program.

She also faces stiff penalties if she slips up again.

Violating a prohibition order is considered a felony offense that results in jail time and a fine of up to $1 million.